Sydney teenager’s petition to host ‘most Aussie rave’ at Bunnings gets support of What So Not, Peking Duk, and executives
A 19-year-old’s petition to host “the most Aussie rave of all time” at Bunnings has gathered more support, and now has some big names on board.
Confidential
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A Sydney teenager’s petition to host “the most Aussie rave of all time” at a Bunnings Warehouse has proved successful.
“We just had our first official conversations Bunnings,” electronic music producer What So Not, the alias of Chris Emerson, told The Daily Telegraph.
“It took a lot longer than I thought because there is so much red tape about what can and cannot be done. All I can say for now is that we are all officially talking, which is a pretty big step forward.
“We’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks, and yes there has to be a sausage sizzle.”
The Sydney-born DJ from Dee Why, who brought his Dance Dance Revival Tour to Manly on Sunday night, said he hopes the “community-supporting idea” gets the green light.
In April, 19-year-old Kalia hilariously remixed the Bunnings theme tune with a hard-hitting beat, calling on Aussie electronic acts What So Not and Peking Duk to headline a rave at the hardware store.
Kalia’s video went viral on TikTok, with the BunningsRave hashtag receiving over 1 million views. What So Not jumped on board, sharing the video with the caption “MAKE THIS HAPPEN” on his Instagram, which has been viewed more than one million times.
Bunnings replied: “We’ll bring the decks,” with a string of eyeball emojis as the original video amassed 408,000 views.
Sensing an unparalleled marketing opportunity, an avalanche of brands jumped on the bandwagon, including JBL, Uber, Pepsi, and Grill’d, Jetstar, and Spotify.
“I would say the brains of the Bunnings executives went into chaos when this gained momentum,” Emerson said.
“We’re doing our best to soothe concerns and come up with a strategy of how to make this possible with the safety limitations that they have.”
He said that no particular location has been decided on yet and indicated that using a car park, or an old warehouse that is no longer an active store are potential options.
What So Not has lived a nomadic touring existence for the past decade, playing huge festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza, but his mission has always been building a thriving music scene at home.
“In Wollongong last Saturday I had a math teacher by trade come up and close the show with me,” he continued. “Part of why I’m doing this big tour, which is mainly regional, has been to find all the young acts in Australia that are just aren’t getting a shot.”
The producer lamented the compounding and devastating effects of Sydney’s lockout laws, “the venues going broke”, “losing an entire generation of club kids with Covid-19”, and major festival cancellations have had on Australia’s music scene.
“Typically when there’s a recession, people go and party,” he said. “They dive into music to escape whatever’s going on. The strange thing is, people aren’t doing that now.”
The globally-recognised producer said he fears for the next generation of artists.
“There’s so much fear in our industry because everything’s falling apart a bit,” Emerson said. “But I’m seeing the beauty in reaching out. I’m seeing the community, how it elevates everything, and the reaction in the nightclubs to the events we’ve been doing.”
His call out for Dance Dance Revival was this: Who are the people in your town that should be up here with me?
“I’ve been finding these kids with 500 followers who could be on the biggest labels in the world but they haven’t been looked at,” he said. “Most artists are coming to the major cities, rinsing that, and then dipping out.”
Emerson built a spreadsheet with 400 unknown Aussie acts and “that’s how I found all the acts for my tour.”
“I have absolutely no doubt that community is the answer to all of this,” he said.
The Bunnings Rave idea was floated in jest, but Emerson said it has the same creative energy as the pop up shows he’s been organising in Australia for “many years”.
“The lucky part of this is artists are the people who think outside the box,” he said. “The old systems are broken, so let’s have some fun and try some things.”
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